Disney Park Itineraries & Touring Plans
Our Walt Disney World and Disneyland park itineraries help with our recommended touring plans for 1-day visits to avoid waiting in line. These plans cover everything from attractions to restaurants to quiet places to stop and enjoy the ambiance. We also have some multi-day plans for parks that require more time, like Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. (Last updated April 9, 2018.)
Our patented (not really) park strategy guides are unlike most theme park touring plans that you’ll find. These are not focused solely on efficiency. We believe there’s more to theme parks, and Disney’s parks should also be enjoyed for the wonderful atmosphere and sense of place that separates them from other theme and amusement parks. Of course, efficiency is important, too, so we make sure to order experiences in a way that minimizes waiting in lines. (“I love waiting in lines!” ~said no one, ever.)
We think our approach that balances stopping to smell the roses along with efficiency results in Disney touring plans that allow you to get a lot done, while also enjoying the scenery and what the theme parks have to offer beyond the rides. We do not view the parks simply as collections of attractions that should be completed checklist style, so the plans balance “getting stuff done” with “having a nice, leisurely day.”
If that approach sounds appealing to you, check out our plans…
Walt Disney World
With 4 theme parks, plus 2 water parks, a couple dozen resort hotels, and lots of “other stuff” our 1-day plans for Walt Disney World barely scratch the surface.
In an ideal world, we’d allocate 5 days to the WDW theme parks, with probably two days spent in the Magic Kingdom. Here are our current touring plans for Walt Disney World:
Magic Kingdom 1-Day Plan
Magic Kingdom 2-Day Plan
Epcot 1-Day Plan
Disney’s Hollywood Studios 1-Day Plan
Disney’s Animal Kingdom 1-Day Plan
No Parks 1-Day Plan
Disneyland Resort
In an ideal world, we recommend two FULL days at Disneyland and one full day at Disney California Adventure to fully see and explore the parks without feeling rushed.
This is especially true now, as crowds have increased at Disneyland dramatically in the last 3 years, meaning longer wait times and fewer attractions per day. There’s also so much entertainment in addition to attractions that it’s difficult to see and do it all in a single day.
Disneyland Park 1-Day Plan
Disneyland 2-Day Plan
Disney California Adventure 1-Day Plan
International Disney Parks
In this case, “International Parks” means the two parks at Tokyo Disney Resort, and Disneyland Paris. Much like Disneyland, neither Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea can be fully experienced in a single day. However, we recognize that’s how much time most people will allocate to these parks during a trip to Japan, so here are our plans for those parks:
Tokyo Disneyland 1-Day Plan
Tokyo DisneySea 1-Day Plan
Disneyland Paris 1-Day Plan
Hong Kong Disneyland and 2-day plans for both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. If there are any other plans you’d like to see, or if you have questions about the current Disney Parks plans, please let us know in the comments!
Planning a visit to one of the Disney theme parks? Check out our Disney Parks Trip Planning Guides for everything you need to start planning a trip to Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Aulani in Hawaii.
Your Thoughts…
What would you include in your ideal day at the Disney Parks? If you haven’t visited yet, what do you plan on doing? Anything you’d add to any of our plans? Share your questions and thoughts in the comments!
Hi,
Were going to Tokyo Disney in November, and I’m trying to plan our trip. This website has been so helpful, I think I’ve read most of the stuff that pertains to me, but I might have missed it somewhere.
In Paris Disneyland if you booked a suite, you got unlimited fastpass entry to all the rides with fastpasses, do you know if they do that at Tokyo? Also, I was wondering what rides do the single rider? or if you can do rider swap; where one person would go on the ride with one kid, and then the other party waits at a certain place, and can go on the ride after the first person exits without waiting in line?
Thank you for putting all of this information together!!
Hi Tom. Any chance of a Hong Kong Disneyland 1 day plan?
Thanks!
i want to thank you for the best experience i had in tokyo disneysea and disneyland last May. thanks to your advice, we got short waiting line, especially in the morning, and we ride all the attraction and watch all the parade/show available in both parks in just two days. looking forward to the same experience in walt disney world. ^^
Do you have a one day touring plan for Hong Kong Disneyland?
How can I get some help planning? We arrive on the 28th at 5 in the am and are staying at the New Orleans Venue. We are staying until the 3rd. 6 full days and we are in our 70’s but want to see everything we can.
hi Tom (or any Disney experts out there) I have a question!
I plan on doing Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom in one day (park hopper) on September this year.
I know HS will have the new Toy Story Land, so which park do you recommend I visit first that day?
HS in the afternoon or Animal Kingdom?
I would love to know your opinion
Thanks!
I would go to Animal Kingdom since it closes before HS. You could always make this a night when HS has magic hours and is opened for an extended period of time. Just my opinion.
Do you have a universal studios Florida itinerary?
So being a huge planner, even though our trip isn’t for a year, I’m way too excited and converted all of your itineraries into one page documents for me to easily check while we’re in the parks. Crazy person here!
Anyways, I’m sure it’s been heavily requested but I’ve got to add that I would really appreciate a Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure one day itinerary. Or if you know of someone that has done one, a link to that would be great! I’ve looked at a few around the internet, and none of them have the same feel that yours do (balancing efficiency, fun, and actually taking in the ambiance of the parks).
This trip will be our honeymoon and our VERY first trip to Disney World and Universal so I want to be as prepared as I can and have some sort of plan of attack for each park.
Love reading all the tips and tricks, thank you guys so much!
Did you ever get a response about universal?
We visited Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure in August and used https://orlandoinformer.com/ for planning. They were great.
Cassie,
I’m sure it was a lot of work and I’d never expect you to share your entire document, but would you mind possibly sending a screenshot or a portion of it just so I can get an idea of how you organized the page? I’m like you in that I have to be organized and prepared, but travel planning always gets me a bit stressed out – which is why I often find myself referring to Tom & Sarah’s incredibly informative blog 🙂 I hope you have an amazing honeymoon next year, how exciting!
Hi Ashley!
So sorry, I guess I didn’t turn on notifications for my comment, because I’m just seeing this now! I have literally no idea how to share with you, other than just posting it in this comment, lol. Hopefully that’s okay with Tom??
This is day one of the 2 Day Magic Kingdom post. A couple things are taken from the 1 day itinerary, as well.
1. Fantasyland
• Rope drop: Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
• Peter Pan
• Enchanted Tales w/ Belle
• Winnie The Pooh
• Little Mermaid
• It’s a Small World
• Tangled Toilets
• Haunted Mansion (Liberty Square)
2. Snack
• Friar Nook (tater-tots/mac & cheese?)
• Walk to Pinocchio Village Haus, go upstairs, sit look over castle.
3. Fast Pass Rides (10:30am-1:30pm)
• Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
• Space Mountain
• Big Thunder Mountain
4. Lunch (1:30pm) Be Our Guest
5. Liberty Square
• Haunted Mansion (If not earlier)
• Hall of Presidents
6. Festival of Fantasy (Parade) (*3pm?)
7. Mickey PhilharMagic
8. Fast Pass Rides (if any left)
9. Dinner (5:30) The Plaza Restaurant (Main Street)
10. Night time rides (Anything left can be done on Day 2)
• Riverboat (Liberty Square)
• Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train (Fantasyland)
• Splash Mountain (Frontierland)
• Big Thunder Mountain (Frontierland)
• Jungle Cruise (Adventureland)
• People Mover (Tomorrowland)
11. Happily Ever After (Fireworks) (*8pm?)
12. Once Upon a Time (Projection show on castle) (*9:45pm?)
13. Last minute rides
14. Leisurely stroll out of the park – Main street doesn’t close for 1 hour.
Hope that gives you an idea of how I organized it. I tried to keep times to a minimum (other than lunch and dinner because I plan on reserving those in advance) because I know it will be impossible to keep a strict schedule all day.
Hope I’m not too late commenting back!
Hi Cassie, Would you mind sharing? I was hoping to find a downloadable copy but no luck.
I posted it in reply to Ashley’s comment, right above yours! 😉
I would love a screen shot or a downloadable document of your amazing compilation of all the itineraries!!
Do you have any recommendations for Shanghai Disney?
I’m visiting Disney World for the first time and by myself, at age 30. All of your advice has been so helpful. I know you understand how overwhelming this can be! I know so many people who book the 3-day Park Hopper to save money and have a quick trip. I’d love to see a plan for visiting 4 parks in 3 days! I’ve kind of built one for myself using these though. Thanks again!
Agree with Chelsea, would love to have your guys’ 2-Day Plans. We are going for our first Christmas visit (I grew up in SoCal, so we never went during busy periods…I’m 39 and going to during the holidays for the first time ever, hooray!) and spending four days, split between both parks. Love the way you guys approach everything and how it’s not all about tactical, surgical strikes. I forward relevant entries to my wife when we do our planning and have definitely used your pointers to make our first family trip great. Doing it again this time. Thanks again!
Any chance you have the 2-Day Disneyland Touring plan ready? We’re going to have 3 full days between DLR and DCA and am looking for some pointers on how to do it right with a 7 y/o, a 5 y/o and a 1 y/o in tow!
Thanks so much!
If we aren’t arriving in Florida until Jan 1, and want to make a day trip to Magic Kingdom on Jan 2 or 3, will we be able to see the decorations and lights? No kids, just 2 adults…
Yes, the decorations and Christmas lights usually stay up through (at least) the first week of January.
People just a fyi if you want good itenararies for disney parks go to easywdw Josh has great ones
Josh’s site is great. I recommend it here in a number of posts.
No offense meant but I buy his and Dave’s book every year
You have great info too. Thanks for all you do
Have you considered doing an itinerary for Disney Springs?
Yikes! I thought you had an itinerary for MVMCP! No?
I think you should add your touring advice for non-Disney parks to this page as well (Universal, Knotts, etc.)
Cheers!